Ales Loprais resumes the race in stage 3 after a heroic performance of mechanics vydal: Jirka Vintr, 6.1.2009, 07:00

Jacobacci, Argentina - January 5, 2008 - After an 8-hour overnight clutch overhaul, Ales Loprais set out for Stage 3 of the Dakar Rally heading to Jacobacci. He continues the race despite another sequence of good and bad luck.

Stage 3 did not start for Ales Loprais with the morning liaison or with the start into the special. It started at midnight as the truck was towed into the bivouac in Puerto Madryn. The mechanics started the work but the scope of damages on the vehicle did not allow them to finish until the morning. Only ten minutes before the mandatory leaving of the bivouac to the stage, the truck started the engine and finally got moving. Five mechanics spent a heroic sleepless night on the overhaul and immediately continued with another 700-kilometer liaison. Milan Holan, moreover, took part in the special at full pace. There was no time left for testing of the repairs. The press crew at least blocked the petrol stand at a station, so that the racing crew lost as little time as possible refueling. Refueling times are of course counted to the liaison time.

A strange mixture of good and bad luck was predominant also throughout the special, which Aes started with a maximum effort to erase part of the gap from the day before. In the first part of the special, he had to overtake many slower competitors. Approximately 20 kms past CP1, the engine temperature rose rapidly and a leak of the radiator was identified, with the cooling fluid leaking away. The crew filled the radiator with all accessible liquids. After some time, the truck got to a small oued with some water where it got enough water for the entire cooling system.

"Local people are amazing, they would give us everything. One of them, seeing our problems, ran away and came back with a plastic bag of grounded dried cow feces and told us to put it in the radiator. What else could we do? And it almost worked well for the rest of the special. I also exchanged my team hat for a water container with one of the fans and kept it full of water for the rest of the special," navigator Vojta Stajf said. The damage occurred when the distance between the truck in the special and the assistance in a liaison was on its maximum level.

Like if there was not enough troubles, half-way into the special in a bumpy section, navigator Vojta Stajf hit his head at the safety rollcage. For the rest of the special, he suffered fro severe headaches. "Doctors have given me fixing collars and some pills. In two or three days i should be fine. At jumps or ordinary sections it does not matter but cross bumps and rollettes are painful," he added.

Another two-hour gap is not a tragic one for a further development of the race. "The route seems to be a tough one but stage 3 suited the characteristics of our truck well enough The real tough stages are still to come. I think that abrupt severe changes in the ranking will affect almost everyone in a matter too hard to foresee. But there will be many surprises in the race development. It is not pleasant but we keep fighting to the very end. We have still a solid chance of succeeding but only in case no more problems arise," Ales Loprais concludes.

Jiri Vintr, Loprais Tatra Team, Jacobacci

Results stage 3:

Pos.
No.
Name
Make
Time
Variation
1.
501
CHAGIN (RUS), SAVOSTIN (RUS), NIKOLAEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
5:15:59
0:00:00
2.
505
DE ROOY (NLD), COLSOUL (BEL), VAN MELIS (NLD)
GINAF
5:19:23
0:03:24
3.
506
KABIROV (RUS), BELYAEV (RUS), MOKEEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
5:23:11
0:07:12
38.
502
LOPRAIS (CZE), ŠTAJF (CZE), HOLÁ? (CZE)
TATRA
7:22:51
2:06:52
Overall standings after stage 3:

Pos.
No.
Name
Make
Time
Variation
Penalty
1.
505
DE ROOY (NLD), COLSOUL (BEL), VAN MELIS (NLD)
GINAF
10:56:14
0:00:00

2.
506
KABIROV (RUS), BELYAEV (RUS), MOKEEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
11:04:00
0:07:46

3.
501
CHAGIN (RUS), SAVOSTIN (RUS), NIKOLAEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
11:05:42
0:09:28

45.
502
LOPRAIS (CZE), ŠTAJF (CZE), HOLÁ? (CZE)
TATRA
16:38:50
5:42:36
15:00